When Operation Epic Fury began with the killing of most of the radical Islamist leadership of Iran our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, issued a statement which said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would not be mourned and he then doubled down on Australia’s support for the US to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons.
However, the ABC’s John Lyons attacked this statement by calling it ‘political propaganda.’
So, what does this expression ‘political propaganda’ mean?
Well, ‘propaganda’ is recorded in English from the late 1600s.
What it means is, ‘information which is false or which emphasizes just one part of a situation, used by a government or political group to make people agree with them’ (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
So, what part of Albanese’s statement did John Lyons think was ‘false’?
Did he really think most Australians would be mourning the death of this fanatical, unhinged, lunatic terrorist?
Yes, I know a handful Australian Muslims did (so what are such hateful people doing in our country?)
But the vast, vast majority of Australians celebrated this vicious man’s death along with the people of Iran.
Or did John Lyons think that most people (in Australia and around the world) thought it would have been a good thing for the murderous mullahs running Iran to get nuclear weapons?
Is that what he believes?
If, as looks likely, Albanese was simply expressing the views strongly held by the majority of Australians then how can the words be called ‘political propaganda’?
I suppose there are several possibilities here.
John Lyons may either (1) not understand the meaning of the English expression ‘political propaganda’; or (2) be deliberately trying to mislead the viewers of the ABC; or (3) is just completely off his rocker.
(In the meantime, you and I are paying his salary!)
The latest issue of The Spectator Australia is in newsagents now -- with the cartoon about bombs falling on Iran on the front cover, and my 'Language' column in the back.
My latest column has appeared on the Sky News Online website -- here's the link: Real purpose of pro-Palestine activists flooding streets of Australian cities has morphed from ‘end the war in Gaza’ into something far more destructive | Sky News Australia
The latest issue of Australian Geographic is now at newsagents -- with a big beaked kookaburra on the front cover, and inside my two small columns on 'Ozwords' ad 'Placenames.'
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